India to do Rajni act

I’m sure most of you must have watched a Rajnikanth movie at some point of time in life no matter what your mother tongue is. The movie will have the villain beating Rajni, usually 3 punches. The third one lands on the face to start the bleeding from the mouth. Rajni looks at the blood and slowly wipes it with his wrists, stares the villain angrily. He then dives from his position only to land on the baddies shoulders and finally beats the shit out of the villain. I know you are already imagining the scene from one of your favorite Superstar movie.

That is exactly the act India to do this series. They lost the first test as villain beat Rajni. They will draw the second test as Rajni wipes the blood. They will go on to win the final two tests as Rajni bashes the baddie. A perfect India-Rajni show that keeps your adrenaline pumped up all the way. I know it all sounds silly at this time, but all I would say is just wait to watch the show.

It is certain that Zaheer Khan would not be part of the second test and that means Sreesanth is all set to take his place. However will India bring in Mishra for the out of color Harbhajan Singh? It would not be a bad ploy considering England blessed with only 3 left hand batsmen (I’m not considering Broad as batsmen) of which Cook and Strauss play at the top of the order and likely to get out before the spinner comes to play. So Mishra bowling to majority of right handers, especially the likes of Pieterson, Trott and Bell should work India’s favor.

At this time it also appears Gambir a doubtful starter for the second test. This should be a huge blow for India but also a good opportunity for Yuvraj to make his presence felt. If Yuvraj is playing, it only makes sense he is opener rather India fiddling around the entire batting order for the sake of accommodating him. I’ve already stressed the importance of batting position in the earlier post Dhoni makes a mockery of Test Cricket. If Yuvraj is drafted, it could lure the think tank to play Harbhajan Singh ahead of Amit Mishra as Yuvi could add value with his left arm spinners. Again these are tricky situations for the captain but the point is Raina or Yuvi can never be a replacement to Bhajji or Mishra even if the lead spinners are in form or not.

It has been a usual practice for India to use wicket keepers as make shift openers. Apart from Engineer, Mongia, Dinesh Karthik (few others too... i think so) have opened the innings. At this time... Will Dhoni step up and open for India?

Wonder what the butterfly effects the injuries creating on the course of the series? Ooops… I’m not asking you to grudge on IPL as you would do it without saying.

My team for the second test would be as follows (assuming Gambir not fit)

Mukund, Yuvraj, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman, Raina, Dhoni, Mishra, Sreesanth, Ishanth, Praveen Kumar.

Dinesh

Cricket Lover